Mary Burke to Run For School Board

Monday, Mary Burke, Trek Bicycle executive and former Commerce secretary, announced plans to run for Lucy Mathiak’s current seat on the School Board this spring. She is running on the platform of closing the achievement gap in Madison public schools.

One of the hot-button issues for this year’s School Board is the vote on Madison Preparatory School, the gender-separated, charter school focused on colored youth. Mary Burke has pledged $2.5 million to the project.

The spring campaign season is set to start after the vote on this issue, and promises to be a contested election. The two new school members will face the community’s heightened concerns about minority student achievement and will also have the duty of shaping new work rules for teachers when the current union contract expires in 2013.

Burke asserted that she wasn’t running because of Madison Prep. “While I believe in Madison Prep, it’s not enough to induce me to run.”

This is the first time Mary Burke is running for public office. She has previously worked as the Commerce secretary under Governor Jim Doyle, and served for nine years as the president of the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County. Her opponents include Joan Eggert and Mark Stokosa.